Page 26 - RB-72-15-1

POLAND
Poland Overview
Most Europeans have a general idea of where Poland lies geographically. Some of its history will be known to Europeans and probably Americans, but possibly less so around the world.
Poland is a largely flat country, in fact northern central Europe is largely flat as far as the Urals and that is a key element in the history of Poland. It’s territory lies slap bang in the route between the West and the East and since the 1600s at least it has been a highway for the armies of those wishing to invade the continent – The Swedes, the French, The Russians, the Germans, and latterly the Russians both liberated and occupied the country for half a century. That latter occupation is possibly still very relevant to the economy and politics of Poland today. Russia still has an impact on the Polish economy in terms of trade, or, currently, the lack of trade.
It is also worth noting that Poland, as well as having borders with EU partners Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania, shares borders with Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
There is naturally trade with its EU partners, to a greater or lesser degree, and in normal times there would be considerable trade with Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. However, Russia is subject to a trade embargo, an embargo that probably has little impact on most western European businesses, banking
aside, but for Polish agriculture, the loss of such a huge market for its fruit and vegetable produce has seen markets plummet and the government can’t give away enough apples to dispose of the 2014 harvest. Of course, the gas pipeline that keeps the west in power is not
subject to the same embargo and that creates an economic hotspot where it crosses into Poland.
Overall Poland’s agriculture contributes around 4 per cent to the GDP, but in some areas it is close to 100 per cent of the local economic output. Industr y contributes 33 per cent and the country’s growing service industry some 63 per cent. Ukraine, or part of the Ukraine was, prior to 1918, part of Poland and there is claimed to be an affinity between Poland and the Ukraine, but whilst the Poles may have some empathy for their Ukrainian cousins, that does not extend too far economically as the Ukrainian currency has next to no value, so trade with the Ukraine is nowadays limited. Belarus as a trade partner is not impacted by the conflict in the east of Ukraine, but nonetheless its currency is of no account and trade with the Belarus market is nowadays minimal.
Poland is on the frontier between the European Union and the Russian sphere of influence. Poles that Retreading Business spoke to hoped that the Ukrainian government could hold its ground and that the expansionism of Russia could be held at bay. “It is always the same with the Russians”, said one of my contacts, “They invade on the basis of protecting the Russian speaking population of the neighbouring country. That is how they come.”
The infrastructure in Poland is an enigma, there are some motorways, and there are some stretches of national road being converted to motorway, but needless to say the economic situation has called a halt to that development, for the present (according to the CIA Poland has avoided going into recession, but
that would not be the impression given by many Poles).
Poland has a total of 412,035 km of roads, of which 280,719 are paved and a mere 2418km are motorways. The main roads, as a rule are in good condition, straight, and well maintained, though Poles used to driving in Germany will argue otherwise. Out of the urban areas, long straight roads connect villages and towns. The difficulty for the transport sector is that driving regionally is like driving in the UK in the 1960s. Older drivers may remember the long haul north on the A1, a single carriageway road occupied by convoys of trucks making travel north or indeed south a time consuming affair. So it is in much of Poland today, the road may be good and straight, but a convoy of six or seven 40ft articulated trucks makes for a slow journey. 200km can take 2.5 – 3 hours.
In some regions, off the main road the condition of the road surface can var y, from potholed tarmac, to cobbles and even unsurfaced roadways in rural areas.
A drive through Poland’s eastern regions reveals a mix of traditional buildings, timber buildings, houses and the odd barn. Through communist era square, purposeful but bleak concrete blocks of houses
Domar Zro
Domar Zro is a rural retreader based in the Mazoweicki region, south of Warsaw in an area where the landscape is dominated by fruit trees and agriculture.
The Production manager at Domar is Wieslaw Czarnecki and he explained that the company previously had two retreading operations and that this retread operation had begun in 1999, two years after the business was first
and factories, through to modern – post communist developments that would not look out of place anywhere in Europe, and as can be found everywhere in Europe, the restoration of traditional buildings is taking place everywhere.
The Polish commercial transport fleet in 2011 consisted of 98,400 buses, 2,844,500 lorries, 26,300 semi- trailers and 547,700 trailers according to Road Transport in Poland in the Years 2010, 2011 published in 2013 by the Polish Government Office for Statistics. Add to this the international traffic flowing through Poland, largely from Lithuania at present, and that gives an idea of the size of the transport sector.
The Polish Tyre Industry Association is only a year old and the retread sector is virtually unorganised. There are estimates of around 27 retread operations in Poland, covering everything from car tyres to OTR. Car tyre retreading is a considerable element of the retread market here but is said to be on the decline – partly due to quality issues, partly due to the ever present budget Chinese tyre. The truck tyre sector is a bit of a curate’s egg, some report business booming, but others suggest that the market is in
decline.
established. In 2010 new owners stepped in and bought the company, selling off the first plant and focussing all the production at the Domar plant in Palczew-Parcela, the first plant being sold to another retreader. However, the Domar company name was retained.
At the peak of business the company employed 20 staff, but the economic climate has brought about a reduction to 12 staff today.
26 Retreading Business